Shubman Gill made an imperious 80 off 75 balls before retiring injured to propel India to a six-wicket victory over England in the one-day international series opener at Edgbaston.
The 121-run partnership of Liam Dawson (68 off 83) and the classy Joe Root (76no) was not enough to repair a disastrous four-over period that saw England go from 61-0 to 80-5.
India skipper Gill was aided by a valuable innings from Shreyas Iyer (35 off 53) and a 96-run partnership from Axar Patel (57no off 52) and Washington Sundar (52no off 63) to chase down the target of 259 with 4.4 overs to spare.
The win will soothe the pain of India’s 4-0 T20I series whitewash and condemns England to a seventh loss in their last 10 ODIs, with two games in the three-match series still to come.
How India extended England’s ODI woes
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Both Ben Duckett and Jacob Bethell were caught out with two incredible catches from Washington Sundar and Jasprit Bumrah.
After winning the toss, England took the initiative in the powerplay as Ben Duckett (43) and Jacob Bethell (14) notched the highest opening partnership for England in 10 ODIs (61), but were pegged back swiftly after a delicious over from Gurnoor Brar (2-61) saw both dismissed in the space of three balls.
Jasprit Bumrah (1-31) then ended any hopes of a swift England revival, taking the wicket of captain Harry Brook (1) to make it three wickets from India’s last seven deliveries, before Jos Buttler (5) – making his 200th ODI appearance – and Sam Curran (0) fell in four balls to Prasidh Krishna (2-50) just three overs later.
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Shivam Dube drops a ‘sitter’ against England, could this have been a costly moment for India?
A stunning one-handed KL Rahul catch to dismiss Will Jacks left England reeling at 107-6, but Dawson became an unlikely hero with the bat as the spinner-by-trade put up a century stand with Root, notching his maiden ODI half-ton along the way before being caught on the boundary.
Root – whose blushes were spared after being dropped on seven from a Shivam Dube caught-and-bowled chance – top scored for England, notching his 46th ODI fifty from 59 deliveries as England posted 258 all out from 47.5 overs as Axar (4-62) cleaned up the tail expertly.
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Shreyas Iyer makes an awkward run to the line resulting in him being bowled out against India.
England’s seamers – who will benefit from the return of Brydon Carse to the squad for the next ODI in Cardiff – were able to remove Rohit Sharma (11) and Virat Kohli (5) in quick succession, but toiled against the century partnership of Shreyas Iyer (35 off 53) and swashbuckling opener Gill before the latter’s hamstring injury forced him to make way in the 25th over.
Shreyas, though, was brilliantly run out by a dead-eyed direct hit from Brook to give England hope, but a composed unbeaten partnership from Washington and Axar – the latter of whom matched his brilliance with the ball with a stylish fifty off 41 deliveries for his 4th in ODIs – saw India home to the delight of the travelling faithful at Edgbaston.
Brook: The way we fought was phenomenal
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Jasprit Bumrah takes the wicket of England captain Harry Brook.
England captain Harry Brook:
“Not ideal, obviously. I think we lost 5-20 in that middle period, which is always going to put us on the back foot, but I thought the way we fought with the ball just then was phenomenal.
“To get us to a decent total in the end that we fought we could potentially defend, it’s a great effort from the lads.
“We definitely would have liked to play slightly better in that middle period, but getting 260 on the board was a great effort from [Joe Root and Liam Dawson] with a couple of cameos off the back of it as well.
“The pitch changed quite a bit, it got a little bit slower and it just allowed them to cruise along. They only really needed to go at five or six an over.
“If we’d have got a few more runs there, our spinners might have been able to tie them up through the middle, but it all comes back to that 5-20 period which wasn’t ideal.
“On another day we get 320, 330, and our spinners play a massive part.
“We’ll head to Cardiff, make decisions based on the pitch, and hopefully we can come back stronger.”
Gill: Team gave me confidence as a captain
Shubman Gill made an imperious fifty off 51 balls vs England in the ODI series opener
India captain Shubman Gill:
“When you see your middle and lower-middle order score runs and finish the job, it gives you confidence as a captain.
“It was about our combination. We have a youngish bowling attack. Our batting is more experienced than our bowling, so even if we had a target of 300-320, we backed ourselves to chase that.
“Our bowling in the middle overs was very pleasing. We bowled in the right areas. They got away at the end of the powerplay and we were put under pressure, but the way we came back and bounced back was important.
“We’ll try different combinations and see which gives us the best depth in batting and bowling.”
England vs India results and fixtures
All times UK and Ireland, all games live on Sky Sports
First ODI (Edgbaston – India win by six wicketsSecond ODI (Cardiff) – Thursday July 16 (1pm)Third ODI (Lord’s) – Sunday July 19 (11am)
